KDE 4.1, which is supposed to become the KDE4 version usable by 'normal' people, is coming at the end of July. When Ars reviewed the beta release, they were positive in that it was moving forward at an "extraordinary pace". Despite the positive notions in the news, many seem to have problems actually seeing all the new stuff being done in KDE4 - just like how people fail to see the massive amount of work put into Vista. KDE developer Rafael Fernandez Lopez (I'm sorry for the lack of diacritical marks, an OSNews bug we're working on) decided to put together a screencast showing off all the new stuff coming in KDE 4.1.

It still looks half finished
It still looks like the bastard child of system
It still uses space so badly 'white space' is everywhere

Really guys

I hate gnome enough but I dont hate it THAT much! I honestly used to think both Gnome and KDE had its merits, but at this rate it wont be till KDE 8 before I even consider making a switch.

What we need is a common platform... something as sexy as either aero or aqua but similarly as consistent Compiz/Kwin have went a long way to at least get the decorators right but the 'start'/launcher menu/bar on both current major linux managers barely meet the consistency of Windows XP

I didn't want drawers lying open with my widgets hanging out on the AmigaOS desktop and active desktop was one of the first things I disabled on win98... why the hell would I want the contents of 'folders' on my desktop now?

Sure, I dont know what the answer to this mess is.. I'm not even going to begin to find one (understanding the complexity of how OSS works) I'm also not a Gnome fanboy...

Linux and its bazillion managers had an edge on windows right up until Windows XP, sure XP looks like it came off the same line as mattels toys but it looked that way right across the board.. After XP the only manager that even came close was enlightenment and even that was only ever half supported by anyone. Then the great fertile OSS soil lay barren until Compiz/Kwin, I just wish to hell we could do the same with our application launchers - get that right and you can add a bazillion desktop osx-like widgets later to your hearts content.

I live in hope... if I wasn't optimistic in general I wouldn't have taken the time to post this drivel

There is absolutely nothing in that Demo that actually demonstrates an improved workflow, interaction between applications to leverage services ala NeXTSTEP and more.

In short, it's boring eye-candy that entertains and distracts one from actually getting more Work Done.

There is absolutely nothing in that Demo that actually demonstrates an improved workflow, interaction between applications to leverage services ala NeXTSTEP and more.

We know you kiss the ground that NEXT walks on, but there is a reason why NEXTSTEP walks no more and is dead, why GNUStep has not been able to follow in its shadow, why OpenStep never got taken up and why Mac OS X, which followed on from NEXTSTEP, isn't quite as wonderful as the way you remember NEXTSTEP to have been. You didn't have to worry about half the things there as you do on a modern desktop.

Besides, for those of us who actually remember NEXTSTEP (however you want to capitalise that silly name), yep it had decent programming tools and architectures, some half-decent applications were created, but in terms of what you manage these days, the way you manage it and the volume of it, NEXT had nothing to compare with what is in that video.

In short, it's boring eye-candy that entertains and distracts one from actually getting more Work Done.

I love that ridiculously easy line that gets trotted out on these occasions via a three step decision process:

1. If Mac OS X does even a small amount of eye candy in this way then it's modern, stylish and the doyenne of usability thinking.

2. If some Gnome person hacks together some eye candy that isn't really stable for anyone to use in any release, and demonstrates it at a conference, there is general whooping and hollering all round as to how cool it is.

3. If anyone else does something like that then its boring, purely for entertainment purposes and 'distracts one from actually getting more Work Done'.

You should trademark that phrase. Really. I don't know about you, but quite frankly I would rather look at and work with that KDE desktop than a NEXTSTEP one any day. If I could actually find a NEXTSTEP desktop.

Does that help you get work done? Well, if people do it and use it and have a decent desktop to look at I suppose it must do otherwise Microsoft, Apple and free desktops like KDE wouldn't be doing it.

There is absolutely nothing in that Demo that actually demonstrates an improved workflow, interaction between applications to leverage services ala NeXTSTEP and more.

"We know you kiss the ground that NEXT walks on, but there is a reason why NEXTSTEP walks no more and is dead,

"

He does kind of have a point though. Why don't we see more screencasts showing of all the cool productivity related improvments we've heard about, rather than just the more visual improvments. Show us cool new ways to tag, organize, find and use our data. Show us how Kmail and the PIM suite will make it easier for use to handle multiple large inboxes and keep track of our contacts and schedules. The KOffice crew should get together with the KDE crew and produce a screencast showing how that combo of KDE4 and KOffice2 will blow OpenOffice out of the water. Please give me a screencast that wows me with substance and function rather than style.

Wobbly, transparant windows are all cool and stuff, but they won't 'sell' KDE4.